The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

SJWs Are Killing Comedy

Posted on | July 22, 2018 | Comments Off on SJWs Are Killing Comedy

 

Social justice is not funny and Twitchy has taken note of a rather weird article featuring a rather weird comedian:

In Hannah Gadsby’s highly acclaimed comedy special Nanette, she announces that she’s quitting comedy. Jokes are too simplistic, she says: they convert her trauma into humor and obscure the ugly truth of her story. Comedy, says Gadsby, has prevented her from evolving.
Gadsby isn’t the only comedian taking at least an occasional break from humor. . . .
Having become political comedians, they’re dropping the comedy act and becoming straightforward commentators. Why?
According to Gadsby, comedy is too simplistic a medium.

To say Gadsby’s show is “highly acclaimed” is to say liberals like it.

Gadsby is a lesbian and in her Netflix special, to quote Wikipedia, “Gadsby uses the piece to deconstruct the nature of comedy and asks the ‘straight white male’ to undergo the same tension that marginalised people go through every day. . . . She explains that some are brought up to hate themselves, while others are brought up with the license to hate others.” Oh, what a festival of fun this SJW rant must be!

Is this a comedy routine or a Gender Studies lecture? To invite an audience to your personal pity party, celebrating your victimhood — your status as a marginalized person — is stupendously arrogant. Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock never played the race card in such a manner, so why so much “acclaim” for Gadsby’s social-justice sermon? Isn’t this just about liberals feeling sorry for themselves because Hillary lost?

Ann Althouse says we’re living in “The Era of That’s Not Funny.” The only acceptable target of humor is heterosexual white male Republicans, and the only “jokes” are Democrat Party talking points.

“Get woke, go broke,” as Professor Reynolds says, but I suppose Hollywood executives won’t figure it out until they’re bankrupt.



 

Category: Hollywood

The Carter Page FISA Documents: The Steele Dossier, the Leaks, the Witch Hunt

Posted on | July 22, 2018 | Comments Off on The Carter Page FISA Documents: The Steele Dossier, the Leaks, the Witch Hunt

Here are some headlines from September and October 2016:

U.S. intel officials probe ties
between Trump adviser and Kremlin
— Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News, Sept. 23, 2016

Michael Isikoff has the latest tale
of people with questionable ties
to Russia within the Trump campaign
— Washington Post, Sept. 23, Sept. 23, 2016

Donald Trump advisor meetings
with Russian officials being investigated
— New York Daily News, Sept. 23, 2016

U.S. Officials Probe Ties
Between Trump Adviser and Russia
— CNN, Sept. 26, 2016

Who is Carter Page?
— Politico, Oct. 6, 2016

Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees
No Clear Link to Russia
— New York Times, Oct. 31, 2016

All of these articles, published in the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, were the result of (a) the infamous Steele dossier, created for Fusion GPS under contract with Democrats, and (b) unauthorized leaks from within the FBI and other federal agencies. We know that senior FBI officials were biased against Donald Trump, that the Mueller investigation has made no charges of wrongdoing by Carter Page, and that “Source #1” for getting a FISA warrant for surveillance of Page was the Steele dossier:

Given that most of the application that Barack Obama’s Department of Justice submitted to the FISA court to obtain a surveillance order on Carter Page has been redacted, what we can say about the application is limited. Still, a few things stand out.
First, the FISA application expresses confidence that Page was an agent of the Russian government, and engaged in criminal activity . . .
But Page has never been charged with anything. Accordingly, the least we can say is that Obama’s FBI and DOJ were wrong.
Second, the application’s description of Christopher Steele and the provenance of his dossier was misleading at best . . .
The “identified U.S. person” is Glenn Simpson, the head of Fusion GPS. Source #1 is Christopher Steele. The DOJ’s statement that “the FBI speculates that the identified U.S person [Simpson] was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1’s [Trump’s] campaign” could only have been an intentional effort to deceive the FISA judge. The FBI was perfectly well aware that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC hired Simpson through their lawyers, and the purpose of doing so was to attack candidate Donald Trump. References to “speculation” about “likely” motives are entirely dishonest.
Third, the application relies to an astonishing degree on anti-Trump news stories published in the Democratic Party press. Does the FBI really get surveillance warrants on the basis of partisan press accounts? Apparently so.

FBI director James Comey and deputy attorney general Sally Yates signed the FISA warrant application, and we should therefore not be surprised that Trump fired both of them. Chuck Ross at the Daily Caller:

The dossier is the first piece of evidence cited in the FISA application section laying out the allegations that Page coordinated with Russian government officials on election-related “influence activities.”
That section cites information from “Source #1” who alleged that during a trip to Moscow in July 2016, Page met secretly with two sanctioned Kremlin insiders, Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin, as part of a collusion scheme involving the Trump campaign.
The source appears to be Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier.
Steele also alleged in the dossier that Page worked with Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to exchange information with Russian operatives. Page has vehemently denied the dossier’s allegations, and says he has never spoken to Manafort. He also says he has never met Sechin and Diveykin while denying that he is a Russian agent.
FBI officials have told Congress that investigators had not corroborated the dossier’s allegations when it was cited in the FISA applications. But the FISA application shows that the FBI and Justice Department believed Steele to be a “reliable” source. Steele has been compensated for other work by the FBI, and his intelligence has been used in other criminal proceedings, the FISA application says.

The Steele dossier and media leaks were the only basis for this surveillance, so far as we know, and more than a year into Mueller’s investigation, there has been zero evidence of wrongdoing by Page.

All of this indicates that the Obama administration wrongly targeted a U.S. citizen for surveillance, in service to a partisan effort to discredit the Republican presidential candidate, by giving a semblance of official credibility to the Steele dossier that Democrats paid for. Note that the liberal media were willing participants in all this, repeatedly publicizing the federal “probe” of the “Trump adviser” and his Russian “ties.”

This is the real “Russian collusion” scandal — the Deep State colluding with the “fake news” media in an effort to help Hillary Clinton win and, when that failed, working to sabotage Trump’s administration by creating the appearance that his victory was illegitimate.



 

Category: Corruption, Donald Trump, Media Bias, Russia

Disney Drops ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Director Over ‘Indefensible’ Tweets

Posted on | July 22, 2018 | Comments Off on Disney Drops ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Director Over ‘Indefensible’ Tweets

 

James Gunn, who directed the Disney-owned Guardians of the Galaxy superhero movies series, had recently used his Twitter account (with more than 500,000 followers) to bash President Trump.

 

Gunn’s unapologetic leftism attracted scrutiny from Trump supporters, including Mike Cernovich, who discovered and publicized Gunn’s old tweets making tasteless jokes about rape and pedophilia.

The ironic point, that Gunn had applauded Roseanne Barr’s firing from Disney-owned ABC because of her offensive tweet about former Obama White House official Valerie Jarrett, seems to have been missed by Gunn’s defenders. At any rate, Disney was not amused:

James Gunn is exiting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The move comes after conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets Thursday in which the filmmaker joked about controversial topics such as pedophilia and rape. Gunn has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement Friday.

There is a debate among conservatives about whether this was a good thing. Do we really want to play by the Left’s rules?

The counter-argument here is that only when the left is forced to live by the awful rules it tolerates for the right will the rules change. . . .
Maybe this is a teaching moment for the left but I sort of doubt they’ll get anything out of it. They don’t really think they’ll ever pay a price because they’re absolutely certain they are on the side of the angels (about everything). So I think the main thing to do here is to keep saying that social media mobs are a bad thing and not stop saying it just because the mob got someone on the left this time.

Streiff at Red State points out:

Hunting through people’s writings and social media comments is not something we invented. It isn’t conservatives who demand people be fired for WrongThink. It isn’t conservatives who SWAT people. It isn’t conservatives who harass kids of political targets or assault them in restaurants. But those are the new rules. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to go along with unilateral disarmament and unconditional surrender.

An important point to mention here is, Disney is the Left. Think about that. This gigantic entertainment conglomerate, a famous family-oriented brand, is controlled by people who didn’t mind hiring a guy who constantly spewed anti-Trump rhetoric on his Twitter feed. It was only when Gunn’s history of joking in ways certain to offend the feminist #MeToo mobs that he became a liability Disney couldn’t afford.

By the way, there are some who suggest that Gunn wasn’t just “joking” about pedophilia. Gunn is friends with Huston Huddleston, who recently pleaded guilty to child pornography charges.

 

Category: Hollywood

The New Totalitarians

Posted on | July 21, 2018 | 1 Comment

 

In Seattle, a green-haired “nonbinary” person attacked a teenage Trump supporter who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.

Meanwhile, the Christian blogger Eternity Matters has been suspended from Twitter for saying transgender people are mentally ill, an assertion which just happens to be a matter of fact. Elsewhere, Baltimore Pride’s 2017 “Youth Activist of the Year,’ Kevi Smith-Joyner, went on a Facebook rant against “TERFs,” after lesbian activists were accused of “hate speech” for a protest at this year’s Baltimore Pride asserting that lesbians are women (again, a matter of fact).

Do you see the pattern here? Disagreement is “hate speech,” according to SJWs, and this justifies anything — including violence — in response.



 

Category: Culture

‘No Christians Allowed!’ University Fires Catholic Chaplain for … Catholicism?

Posted on | July 21, 2018 | 1 Comment

You can be a Christian, as long as you don’t condemn sin:

A university in Glasgow has fired a Catholic chaplain for holding a prayer service at his parish “in reparation” for the city’s gay pride parade.
According to Crux, “Father Mark Morris, the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Glasgow, on Monday hosted a ‘rosary of reparation for the gross offense to God which is Glasgow Pride.’ The priest also served as the Catholic chaplain for Glasgow Caledonian University, a public university of over 16,000 students, although classes are not currently in session.” . . .
After hearing of Father Morris’ prayer service, the university said it was “extremely disappointed” and immediately terminated him as a result.
“The views implied are antithetical to those held by the University, which is strongly inclusive,” Pamela Gillies, the university principal, said in a statement. “We actively respect and promote equality and diversity, and this has included having an official presence at the last two Pride Glasgow events.”
Considering that the Catholic Church has always held homosexual acts as sinful, it makes no sense that the university had him on the payroll in the first place. Even more nonsensical is the university’s expressed commitment to working with the archdiocese for more chaplains.
“The university will work with the Archdiocese of Glasgow to ensure the continued provision of chaplaincy support for staff and students at our Faith and Belief Centre when the new term starts,” Gillies continued. ?
Catholic students of the university have defended Morris and called on the administration “to reconsider this unfair dismissal of our chaplain.” In a statement posted on the GCU Catholic Community Facebook page, students praised Morris for his commitment to the faith.
“He is a faithful priest who has served our community with joy, dignity, and a smiling face for many years now,” read the post. “We are extremely disappointed that the university has decided to dismiss Father Morris. It is frankly abhorrent that a Catholic priest would be dismissed from his post as a Catholic chaplain for merely reaffirming the teachings of the Catholic faith.”

(Via Memeorandum.) The words “inclusive,” “equality” and “diversity” are now all synonyms for “atheist” and “gay.” This is how the Compulsory Approval Doctrine operates in practice: Everyone must celebrate homosexuality as the summum bonum. No one is allowed to criticize a gay person or express disapproval of homosexuality.

While no university has yet made homosexuality a prerequisite for graduation, it’s probably only a matter of time.



 

Category: Catholics, Education, Gays, Great Britain

In The Mailbox: 07.20.18

Posted on | July 20, 2018 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

OVER THE TRANSOM
EBL: David French Defends James Gunn’s Pedophilic Tweets
Twitchy: Looks Like Disney Took James Gunn’s Advice When They Fired James Gunn
Louder With Crowder: Gay Conservatives Speak Out! (#ChangeMyMind Bonus)
According To Hoyt: It Is Fated
Monster Hunter Nation: Last Chance To Nominate For The Dragon Awards
Vox Popoli: More Senior FBI “Retirements”

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Friday Hawt Chicks & Links – The Coming Up Roses Edition
American Power: USA Today Fires Cheri Jacobus, also, Pro-Life Troops Mobilize The Ground Game
American Thinker: LGBTQ Totalitarianism In Boston – The Destruction Of The St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Space Force Friday
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For July 20
Da Tech Guy: What Is The Most Important Virtue For An Activist?
Don Surber: Mueller’s Meddling In The Next Election
Dustbury: Meanwhile In The Food Desert
First Street Journal: The Sixth Deadly Sin, also, Sauce For The Gander
The Geller Report: #NeverTrump Pundit Attacks Trump Campaign Staffer’s Toddler Daughters With Rape Fantasy, also, Islamic Terror Attack Thwarted At California Mall?
Hogewash: Democracy Dies In Derpness, also, Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day
Legal Insurrection: Pants On Fire – Politifact Confirms Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Doesn’t Know How The Unemployment Rate Works, also, Hungary Quits UN Migration Pact, Calls It “A Threat To The World”
The PanAm Post: Why Has The Media Largely Ignored The Nicaraguan Crisis?
Power Line: The Brennan Factor Revisited, also, Analyze This
Shot In The Dark: So Tired Of Winning
The Jawa Report: Sandcrawler PSA – Just To Get Strzok’s Creepy Face Off The Front Page
The Political Hat: Witchcraft To Be Taught In College
This Ain’t Hell: LT Michael Murphy Memorial Vandalized, also, SGM John Canley To Receive Medal Of Honor For Hue Heroics
Victory Girls: Teen Arrested For Vandalizing LT Murphy Memorial
Volokh Conspiracy: Short Circuit – A Summary Of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Weasel Zippers: Hot New Moonbat Trend – Raising “Theybies”, also, Fauxcahontas Blasted For Backing Cape Cod Tribe Over Blue-Collar Burg For Casino Jobs
Megan McArdle: The Puzzle Of Race & Wealth


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Category: Linkagery

She Keeps on Frisching

Posted on | July 20, 2018 | Comments Off on She Keeps on Frisching

Deborah Ellen Frisch, Ph.D., after her Jan. 5 arrest in Bend, Oregon.

When last we took notice of notorious cyberstalker Deborah Frisch, Ph.D., she was sending out crazy emails while awaiting an October sentencing date. Apparently, Frisch has convinced the court to release her from incarceration to a psychiatric facility for treatment, which led to her being turned loose whereupon she immediately began engaging in the kind of online harassment that has previously led her into legal trouble on so many occasions. The latest developments:

As usual, Debbie shows her inability to STFU even when it’s in her interest to do so. This was shown last night when Miss Debbie re-connected her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
While soon-to-be-sentenced Colorado Criminal 278185 doesn’t appear to have posted anything incriminating during the night, the re-connected accounts revealed the reason for her latest temper tantrum. In short, convicted felon Debbie Frisch was warned by the Weld County DA (again) that her continued criminal behavior will be met with a warrant and new arrest. (Debbie responded by spitting her usual racist bile. . . .)
Odds that Miss Debbie will remain free until her October 2nd sentencing?

Maybe not, considering how she has used her accounts to disparage the prosecutor in her case, Ryan Chun, as a “piece of Asian sh**.”

 

Category: Crime

‘Cohen! Cohen! Cohen!’

Posted on | July 20, 2018 | Comments Off on ‘Cohen! Cohen! Cohen!’

Continuing to watch CNN (so you don’t have to), they have now switched from “Russia! Russia! Russia!” to “Cohen! Cohen! Cohen!” This reflects the headline today in the New York Times:

Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump
Discussing Payment to Playboy Model

Now, the ordinary non-CNN viewer may ask, “So what?”

Probably the not-obsessed-with-politics-24/7 person has no idea what’s going with the prosecution of Trump’s former personal lawyer, and as for Trump banging Playboy models, the reaction is, “So what?” Nobody with two eyes and a brain could have believed the billionaire real-estate tycoon Donald Trump was immune to the charms of the fair sex, or that he was particular scrupulous in avoid the danger of scandal. The “news”:

President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, according to lawyers and others familiar with the recording.
The F.B.I. seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. . . .
The former model, Karen McDougal, says she began a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump in 2006, shortly after Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron. Ms. McDougal sold her story to The National Enquirer for $150,000 during the final months of the presidential campaign, but the tabloid sat on the story, which kept it from becoming public. The practice, known as “catch and kill,” effectively silenced Ms. McDougal for the remainder of the campaign.

In 2006, Donald Trump was a private citizen. He never held any public office prior to being elected President. That his personal lawyer was involved in efforts to keep this embarrassing tale out of the headlines is, again, one of those “So what?” revelations. Whether anything illegal was done in pursuit of keeping this story quiet is a matter we’ll leave the courts to figure out. The difference between this and Bill Clinton’s “bimbo eruptions” during the 1992 campaign was that all of Clinton’s sex scandals involved women he’d met through his position as Governor of Arkansas and, as was later revealed, Clinton used the powers of his office (e.g., Arkansas state troopers) to enable his affairs. This was a species of political corruption, whereas Trump banging a Playboy model was just a private citizen doing what perhaps a lot of other private citizens might have done, if they were celebrity billionaires.

Meanwhile, 17 people were killed when a tourist boat capsized in Missouri, but it’s all-Trump, all-the-time on CNN, so never mind.

 

Category: CNN, Donald Trump
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